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The International Politics of Bird Conservation assesses international cooperation on migratory and endangered birds in different regions of the world. Robert Boardman illustrates that – although birds are protected in international treaties, by national legislation and through the projects of non-governmental organizations – the threats to many species have mounted. Threats arise from ecologically inappropriate agricultural and forestry practices, the spread of cities and the draining of wetlands, among other factors. Learn More

Global climate change raises important questions of international and intergenerational justice. In this important new book the author places research on the origins and impacts of climate change within the broader context of distributive justice and sustainable development. He argues that a range of theories of distribution – notably those grounded in ideals of equality, priority and sufficiency – converge on the adoption of the ambitious global climate policy framework known as ‘Contraction and Convergence’. Learn More

This book deals with the issue of sustainable development in a novel and innovative way. It examines the governance implications of reflexive modernisation – the condition that societal development is endangered by its own side-effects. With conceptualising reflexive governance the book leads a way out of endless quarrels about the definition of sustainability and into a new mode of collective action. Learn More

The first Handbook of original articles by leading scholars of global environmental politics, this landmark volume maps the latest theoretical and empirical research in this young and growing field. Captured here are the dynamic and energetic debates over concerns for the health of the planet and how they might best be addressed. Learn More

This book is an original study of the challenge of implementing sustainable development in Western democracies. It highlights the obstacles which sustainable development presents for strategic governance and critically examines how these problems can best be overcome in a variety of different political contexts. Learn More

Environment and Democracy in the Czech Republic offers a radical perspective on the democratisation process, revealing the extent to which the consolidation of a politically efficacious and diverse civil society is far more complex than the earlier generation of commentators acknowledged. The environmental movement has not flourished under political democracy; its radical activists have been marginalized and targeted by the state, their ideologies and strategies compromised and their critical voice silenced. Yet the book concludes that whilst the mainstream environmental movement has become institutionalised and appears incapable of representing community interests, the environmental issue retains the capacity to mobilise, this time against the neo-liberal agenda of the democratic government. Learn More

Tropical islands are fragile, vulnerable environments and yet they are coming under increasing strain due to coastal developments and global environmental change. As a result of their remote location, small size and limited natural resource endowments, tourism has become an important economic activity, leading to emerging conflicts between the interests of developers, tourists and residents. Learn More

This volume is written for policymakers and informed citizenry who want to understand at a general level the complexities of global climate change without becoming enmeshed in technical minutia. The introduction emphasizes the core fact that climate change issues cut across disciplines. William Schlesinger and Gerald North explain the carbon cycle and how increased greenhouse gases impact temperature. The economics papers deal with the applicability of benefit/cost analysis and then proceed to examine the benefits of avoiding temperature change versus the costs of the various CO2 abatement options. Finally, David Victor, a Stanford political scientist, asks which policies are feasible in a world where the incentives differ dramatically among countries. The book closes with open letters to the President of the United States. Learn More

The Kyoto Protocol has singularly failed to shape international environmental policy-making in the way that the earlier Montreal protocol did. Whereas Montreal placed reliance on the force of science and moralistic injunctions to save the planet, and successfully determined the international response to climate change, Kyoto has proved significantly more problematic. International Environmental Policy considers why this is the case. The authors contend that such arguments on this occasion proved inadequate to the task, not just because the core issues of the Kyoto process were subject to more powerful and conflicting interests than previously, and the science too uncertain, but because the science and moral arguments themselves remained too weak. They argue that ‘global warming’ is a failing policy construct because it has served to benefit limited but undeclared interests that were sustained by green beliefs rather than robust scientific knowledge. Learn More

In the post-Cold War era, the pre-eminent threats to our security derive from human degradation of vital ecosystems as well as the possibility of war and terrorist attack. This substantial book examines this new ‘security-environment’ paradigm and the way in which the activities of societies are shifting the balance with nature. The distinguished authors investigate this redefinition of security with particular reference to environmental threats such as climate change and the availability of adequate supplies of food and water. They illustrate how unfettered economic growth, rising levels of personal consumption and unsustainable natural resource and energy procurement are taking a heavy toll on the global environment. Learn More

In a provocative and original analysis, James K. Boyce examines the dynamics of environmental degradation in terms of the balances of power between the winners and the losers. He provides evidence that inequalities of power and wealth affect not only the distribution of environmental costs, but also their overall magnitude: greater inequalities result in more environmental degradation. Democratization – movement toward a more equitable distribution of power – therefore is not only a worthwhile objective in its own right, but also an important means toward the social goals of environmental protection and sustainable development. Learn More

This book introduces readers to the discipline of ecological political economy, an approach that aims at a theoretical synthesis of nature, production and power relations. At its heart is a critical appreciation of the social institutions and organizations that can provide the basis for strong environmental sustainability. Learn More

The economic power of the Russian state has declined to a point where it is no longer able to perform its basic function – maintaining law and order and providing social services. This innovative book proposes that the inherent weaknesses of the post-reform Russian state arose from the manner in which the Soviet Union dissolved combined with the critical role played by President Yeltsin. Learn More

A complex relationship exists between democratic politics and the management of the environment. Democracy and the Environment presents major new work on the challenges and dilemmas which environmental problems pose for the processes of democratic politics. Learn More

Professor Grant uses an analytical framework drawn from the leading theories of public policy formation, such as policy communities, to address the issues raised by California’s policy making experience. This study shows how an ambitious attempt to encourage the use of electrically powered vehicles has faced technological constraints, consumer resistance and political opposition. Other policies developed in the state such as dealing with ‘gross emitters’, trip reduction programmes and the construction of light rail and subway systems are also critically examined. The concluding chapter relates Californian experience to the developing debate in Britain and the European Union about air pollution from motor vehicles. Learn More

The Politics of the Environment brings together 25 classic essays on the political theory of the environment, ranging across environmental philosophy and political, social, legal and economic aspects of environmental action. Prefaced by an editorial introduction situating these materials in the context of the ongoing environmentalist debates, this collection provides beginners with a comprehensive introduction and specialists with a useful reference edition of widely dispersed materials on which any subsequent contributions must build. Learn More